"Chihayafuru -Meguri-" viewers shed tears as Meguru's "inner voice"

The fifth episode of the drama series "Chihayafuru -Meguri-" (NTV, Wednesdays at 10 PM), starring actress Ami Touma, aired on August 6th. In the episode, Meguru (Touma), who has decided to quit the Umezono Karuta Club, faces off against a strong school in the first round of her final tournament, and Meguru's "inner thoughts" at the time became a hot topic on social media.

◇The following contains spoilers.

In episode 5, Meguru, who had lied to her family to attend the training camp, is confronted by her mother, Touko (Yuki Uchida), and father, Susumu (Jun Kaname), who slaps her. Meguru leaves the training camp with only the final day remaining, and Kanade (Mone Kamishiraishi) and the others see her off with mixed feelings.

With her parents not allowing her to continue playing karuta, Meguru decides to quit the club after the next Musashino tournament. To the dejected Umezono members, Meguru tells them, "That's why I want to practice more than ever in the remaining time, so that I can play as many karuta matches as possible with everyone." Meguru and the others begin intense training, but in the first round of the Musashino tournament, they face an unexpected and tough opponent, Adore Girls' Academy.

In the first round, Umezono showed the results of his training from the beginning, with Meguru and the others taking one card after another. However, when Sota (Soma Santoki) had a dispute with Adre and gave up the point to his opponent, Umezono lost his pace and was put at a disadvantage. Unwilling to give up, Umezono began his counterattack after Fuki (Jun Saito) won one game... and so on.

As Touko and Susumu rushed to the venue and watched, Meguru thought, "Oh, this is fun... I don't want it to end... I wish it would continue forever. Is this a luxury... It's a luxury," and chased after the cards with all her might. However, her efforts were not enough, and Sota, Chieri (played by Arashi Rina), and Haruma (played by Takamura Yoshito) were defeated one after another.

Meguru, who is the last one left, thinks, "I wonder if my seniors felt the same way... It's so painful to think about us. I want to go back to that day and hit myself. I'm sure I got punished. I should have saved up more... Save up virtue like my teacher did," and begins to practice her swing. And the moment her opponent takes her card and defeat is confirmed, Meguru mutters to herself, "Ahh... I wish we had met sooner."

On social media, many people responded to Megu's candid thoughts about karuta, with comments such as "I can't stop crying," "It's so sad and painful," "It's so frustrating..." and "I'm sobbing."